The Gender Recognition Act was passed by the California legislature in 2017 and signed by Governor Brown this year. It requires that if one simply wishes to change gender, (male, female, non-binary), a court order will not be required to change the birth certificate. This legislation will take affect in September of 2018. A court order still will be required to change the name and also, for an actual judgement acknowledging a change of gender.  There will be three recognized genders,: male, female and non-binary. Given the strict procedures, and how long it takes to change the birth certificate in California, I suspect that a lot of people will be choosing a court order rather than a change to the birth certificate to document their change in gender. For more information on name and or gender change please visit my web page Name Change